In present-day cigarette manufacture, rods from which filters are ultimately cut, or cigarettes ready for packing, are sometimes stored in trays which are moved into supplying relation to a hopper. The hopper in turn feeds conveyors which issue the rods or cigarettes streamwise to cigarette making, or packing, machinery. This type of apparatus is shown in different aspects in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,596,787 and 3,759,408. In the first-mentioned patent, a cigarette-filled tray is shown in position atop a hopper, the tray having a removable bottom which is separated from the tray after positioning of the tray atop the hopper. The tray has an open top in such disposition and mechanism in the form of a plate and associated guide and driving members is arranged such that the plate rides interiorly of the tray atop the tray-contained cigarettes whereby the cigarettes in the hopper are caused to maintain a suitable profile. i.e., a generally flat top level as the tray contents become depleted. On this event, the plate operates a switch, whereupon the plate is retracted to a home position permitting manual withdrawal of the emptied tray and insertion of a full tray.
In such manual feeding and removal of storage trays, the mechanism for maintaining rod profile and for sensing tray emptying, while relatively simple, nevertheless includes various parts subject to malfunction and requiring readjustment during use. Thus, the plate is supported and displaced by a jack and the plate need cooperate with spaced vertical guides to maintain levelness. While a single switch is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,787 for sensing tray emptying, in typical use a plurality of such switches need be supported for operation by the periphery of the plate.
In the second-mentioned patent apparatus is shown for automated storage tray insertion and removal. A plate mechanism similar to that discussed above is employed in this automated version with the further requirement that, while this mechanism is in substantially upright position while a tray is being emptied, the mechanism need be displaceable from such upright position in the course of operation of the automated tray insertion and removal machinery.
A further version of this type of apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,595,413 and 3,718,224.
As is readily observed in factory usage of equipment of the type discussed above, vibration and other environmental disturbances, attendant on the use of conveyor motors, plate member jacks and the like, give rise to the need for frequent adjustment of the equipment, particularly in resetting the various switches involved, in resetting levelness of the plate, etc. As will be evident, elimination of down time, occasioned by such need for readjustment, serves to render the cigarette making process more efficient.